


Summer

by c_morrigan



Category: The Rosewood Chronicles - Connie Glynn
Genre: princess at heart spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:02:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29898759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c_morrigan/pseuds/c_morrigan
Summary: Jamie stared at her, at her hard expression, which was so unlike what he had grown used to, the soft, happy face of Lottie Pumpkin. She had changed. She had been hurt so badly that she didn’t want to risk getting hurt again. And he was partly to blame.
Relationships: Lottie Pumpkin/Jamie Volk
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Summer

Jamie took in a deep breath. Binah would be able to tell him where to find Lottie. And then he could rescue her from the wolves.

He knocked on the door, bracing himself for a difficult conversation. The door creaked open after a moment.

"Binah, I need-" Jamie's words fell away when he realised that it was not Binah who had opened the door, but Lottie.

"Jamie?" Lottie's voice was hoarse. "You're back?"

He nodded, confused. "What are you doing here? I thought that-"

"When exactly did you think, Jamie?" Lottie demanded. "You've been gone for _months_! You didn’t tell- I didn’t know if you were okay! I didn’t know if you were alive, Jamie," she sobbed.

Jamie opened his mouth, unsure of what he was going to say. But Lottie didn’t give him a chance, storming away from him, leaving him standing in front of the open doorway, unsure of whether or not he was allowed to go inside.

"Jamie?" Binah was standing halfway down the stairs. She had clearly heard the exchange between Jamie and Lottie. "Are you going to talk to her?"

"Does she want me to talk to her?"

"I think so." Binah bit her lip. "It's been a long time. Why didn’t you come before now?"

"I was… I thought she needed help. I thought she'd be in Maradova," he added, _still_ confused. "Why isn't she?"

Binah blinked at him. "You do know about Ellie, right?"

Jamie nodded. It would have been hard to miss. The backlash from the revelation to the public was still being felt. "But why isn't Lottie with her?"

Binah stared for a moment. "You'd better come in."

Binah put on a pot of tea - despite Jamie's insistence that he did not drink tea - and sat Jamie down in her kitchen.

"Ellie left without telling us. She didn’t tell Lottie, or anyone, what she was doing. We've all tried to contact her, but she hasn’t responded once. Lottie… hasn’t been dealing with it very well." Binah got straight to the point.

Jamie felt his jaw hang open. Ellie had let Lottie go? But he had seen them kissing that day, and he hadn't been here. Why wouldn’t Ellie have wanted to be with Lottie? There was nothing in her way. He hadn't understood why Ellie had come out as the princess, but not once had he imagined that Lottie wouldn’t know about it. "Ellie left her?" he repeated, a dry taste in his mouth.

Binah shook her head. "It doesn’t make any sense. Ellie blames herself too much. I think she thought she was doing Lottie a favour." Binah looked at Jamie as she said this, as though trying to gouge whether he agreed with her.

"And Lottie's staying with you?" Jamie had been so certain that Lottie would be kept hidden, locked away in the palace.

"It's not like she's really got anywhere else to go," Binah said.

It hit him then. Lottie had been abandoned by Ellie. And her father had sold her home. Lottie didn’t have anywhere to live. And he had left her to deal with that, alone.

"Will you please speak to her? She hasn’t been okay. And you know what Lottie's like. She won't talk about it, and I don’t know how to help her anymore."

Jamie nodded. "Of course. Where is she?"

"Up the stairs, second door on the left."

Jamie took the stairs two at a time, trying to decide what he was going to say. He still hadn't made up his mind when he pushed open the door and found Lottie sitting on the bed, twisting a ring on her finger. She didn’t look up at him, or acknowledge his presence at all.

"Lottie? Can we talk?"

Lottie barked a short, cold laugh. It wasn’t like her. "Oh, now you want to talk?"

"I'm really sorry, Lottie. I- I didn’t think Ellie would leave you. I thought you'd be in Maradova. I came here to see if Binah had been in touch with you."

"Only took you a few months," Lottie replied bitterly. "Do I really matter that little? Am I that far down on your list of priorities?"

" _No_ ," Jamie reassured her. "I was trying to- I was trying to make a plan to get to you."

"With your father?"

Jamie paused. Why did she say that with such venom? "Yes. Why does that matter to you?"

"He's been trying to kill Ellie's family," Lottie hissed. "He was the one who took you in Japan. Why did you go to him?"

"Because he's my father! Lottie, you know what family's like. I can't just pretend he doesn’t exist. And he was trying to get to me, Lottie. The Wolfsons took me from my father, just because he loved the wrong woman. And they killed her for it."

"Is that what he told you?"

Jamie stopped. "What are you talking about?" he asked carefully.

"They didn’t steal you from your parents. Your father found out your mother was pregnant, so he tried to kill her. She got away, but she only lived long enough to give birth to you. They kept you away from him because they thought he might still try to kill you. They were going to tell you next year." Lottie stopped twisting her ring, finally looking him in the eye. She handed him the ring. "This was your mother's. Ellie's grandmother kept it, and she was going to give it to you once you knew the truth. Hanna and Midori asked me to get it to you."

Jamie took the ring, shocked into silence by the words Lottie had so softly uttered. "But-but that's- who told you that?" he asked suspiciously.

"Ellie's grandmother."

"And I'm just supposed to believe that?"

"I believe her."

"That's not enough," he replied, not thinking about his words. Lottie looked as though she had been slapped, and he realised what he had just said. "Wait, Lottie, no, that's not what I meant-"

"Isn't it?" she snapped. "What I think isn't proof enough. That's what you meant, isn't it? Because I'm just a stupid little girl who got caught up in a glorified version of play pretend."

" _No_ , Lottie. That's not what I think. And you know that's not true. I just- why would my father want to kill my mother?"

"He wanted his throne."

Jamie sighed in exasperation. There was too much information going around. He couldn’t take it. "Look, Lottie. I want to help you-"

"I don’t want your help," she replied coldly.

Jamie stared at her, at her hard expression, which was so unlike what he had grown used to, the soft, happy face of Lottie Pumpkin. She had changed. She had been hurt so badly that she didn’t want to risk getting hurt again. And he was partly to blame.

How was he ever going to fix this?

**Author's Note:**

> I have an idea for a second part, but I'll see if I go ahead with it, depends how i feel about it


End file.
